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Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul is a pen & paper roleplaying game about comic book style superheroes and their adventures, developed and published by Parsons, Kansas-based Spectrum Games. It debuted in the form of an illustrated 13-page PDF document released for free, called the Quickstart Preview. A full rulebook is currently in development and expected for release in 2011. It is written by Barak Blackburn, and uses a significantly modified version of a trait system first introduced in Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 in late 2008.

Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul, abbreviated as CC&VF, adapts the narrative and open-ended trait system of Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 to the genre of superhero comics, and aims to make each roleplaying game session feel as much as possible like writing and editing a comicbook. Conceptually, it operates on the edge of the narrative school of game design, aiming to make characters and their abilities as flexible as possible while still maintaining its own system and dice roll mechanics. It is arguably among the most versatile superhero games that do not completely forgo the elements of dice, tables, or numbers. Tim Kirk's Hearts & Souls and Chad Underkoffler's Truth & Justice, both written for the same genre, share similar goals and design features, but are unrelated publications that came out about five years before CC&VF.

While Cartoon Action Hour and CC&VF are closely related systems, both are de facto independent rules frameworks, and the texts in either written from scratch to reflect the chosen genre, and the “parent medium” emulated (animated cartoon shows for CAH, printed comicbooks for CC&VF). For CC&VF, the popular references to cartoon series, action figures and pop culture of the 1980s were cut in favor of terms and references taken only from the printed comic book medium.

History of the Game
In late 2009, Cynthia Celeste Miller, who founded and runs Spectrum Games, was approached by Barak Blackburn, a long-time friend and fellow gamer, with the idea of publishing a superhero-themed version of the Cartoon Action Hour game. Blackburn had played and studied most of the earlier and contemporary roleplaying game systems published for the superhero genre, and found them either too restrictive or too rules-heavy, especially in character creation. Since the second edition of Cartoon Action Hour, published a little over a year earlier, was seen as too intimately tied to the 1980s toy-driven cartoon series like Masters of the Universe, Transformers, and G.I. Joe to match the concept, it was quickly decided by Miller and Blackburn that the superhero book would be developed from the ground up as a new core system book rather than a supplement. Blackburn also wanted to mostly streamline and unify the crunchier aspects of character design from CAH: Season 2, such as the representation of companions, vehicles, gear, or magic spells.

Cartoon Action Hour had always had the potential to accommodate lower- to mid-powered superhero characters or superhero parodies, and was being used by some GMs for that purpose, but Spectrum Games made clear that the new project would be geared towards emulating the printed comicbooks, not animation or live-action television. This in fact took Miller's design back to its roots, because an early version of the Cartoon Action Hour “first edition” rules appeared in 2001, in a free rules booklet in PDF form, under the name of “Four Colors,” or “4C” for short. 4C was always meant to be a short beginner-friendly rulebook for superhero adventuring set in the world of the 1930s and 40s, a.k.a. the Golden Age of superhero stories.

4C had introduced the d12 roll+modifier mechanic against a difficulty level (rolling high is good), as well as the concept of average human traits being given a value of zero, and no need to list or describe a trait that a character was average in. Just as in all editions of Cartoon Action Hour, as well as the related games Midway City and Tomorrow Knights, a rating of zero in a trait did not cost any points in character creation. A rating of 4 was defined as “world-class” and marked the maximum possible for non-superpowered, mortal humans.

While the superpowers creation system in 4C was not completely freestyle or open-ended, it already waived the idea of a list or chapter specifically for powers and abilities, and instead was built on the idea that as a player, “you define every aspect of the power yourself” (4C Player Guide, pg. 4). Secondly, it introduced the concept of Oomph and Stunt Points, a currency of hero points that could significantly modify die rolls to give player-characters an edge. Those points became unified as “Oomph” in CAH: Season 2, and appear in CC&VF, re-christened “Editorial Control” or simply “EC.” Thirdly, the traditional distinction between raw attributes and skills was dropped.

Lastly, 4C's legacy can be seen in the fact that the game uses the 12-sided die as its only die type, and rolling 1 is always a failure, while rolling 12 is always seen as a special, spectacular result (though never an automatic success).

The name “Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul” also came with its share of history: According to the Designer's Notes section in Cartoon Action Hour's first book edition (2003), the title had been used half-jokingly by Cynthia Celeste Miller for a small superhero system that she had written as a project for Zan's Super Home website. That was a very condensed, non-illustrated game in blog or column format. Nothing was ever said about any plans to publish this as a commercial product, but it formed the prototype of what became the “Four Colors” rulebook (CAH, 2003 edition, pg. 107). Most of the rules developed under the name CC&VF soon resurfaced in CAH proper in 2002 and 2003, so the name is almost as old as the “Cartoon Action Hour” brand-name. When it was conveyed to the new project in 2010, the name was effectively re-activated rather than devised anew.

The Omlevex Connection
Until late August 2010, the working title for the game “Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul” was still “Omlevex.” The reason for that was that Cynthia Celeste Miller had originally intended her company's new superhero rulebook to feature the characters and campaign world from her own creation, the Omlevex universe, which had previously been published in 2004 as a setting supplement with game stats for three of the most widely known superhero RPGs at that time (Mutants & Masterminds 1st edition, Hero System 5th edition, and Silver Age Sentinels Tri-Stat d10 edition). The word “Omlevex” denotes both a fictitious mineral found in that game world, and the name of a fictitious 1960s “Silver Age” comic book publishing company. Since the Omlevex supplement had been out of print for several years by 2010, and the rights to the property had reverted to Spectrum Games, the original plan was effectively to reactivate the Omlevex campaign world, possibly to update it to the 2010s, and give it its own independent rules system. However, the updating of the Omlevex universe had not progressed significantly by mid-2010, and the playtesters of the new system were using their own superhero characters, or heroes borrowed from popular Marvel and DC titles.

After returning from GenCon 2010, where she had attended a game designer seminar, Miller came to the conclusion that a new superhero RPG would have a better chance to win fans and critical approval if it did not include a prefabricated game world to play in. Since most of the other games of the genre usually came with a similar default superhero setting, and most players interested in the genre were highly likely to want to create their own versions of a Marvel- and DC-inspired universe, all references to the Omlevex property were soon dropped. Rather, Spectrum Games put its focus on completing the rules design. This also meant that Omlevex could no longer be the official name of the system. By September 2010, CC&VF had been established as the new name for the superhero product line, and a logo for this title was designed by Miller. Omlevex, on the other hand, is not dead, and is currently scheduled to be published as one of several optional campaign supplements for CC&VF.

In short, “Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul” is now a game title, while “Omlevex” is only the name of a setting.

The Basics
Capes, Cowls & Villains Foul shares the d12 roll-high mechanic from its predecessors, chiefly Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2, and a very similar approach to what a game stat is, and how each individual player can assume narrative control and take liberties by interpreting and re-interpreting any and all of their character's stats. The dividing line between the roles of the Game Master (called “Editor” here) and the players is thus not as definitive as in other roleplaying games.

All rolls in the game are done by using 12-sided dice, and adding or subtracting a modifier (adding is far more common). Human-level abilities and skills add 1 to 4 to a die roll result, while superhuman abilities can add anything from 5 up, with modifiers adding more than 12 through a single ability being somewhat rare, but not unheard of for superheroes. To use an ability against a foe or other opposing force, you have to simply meet or beat the other side's total result.

There is absolutely no distinction made between the formal game aspects of an inborn talent or ability (e.g. “strength” or “intelligence”), a learned skill, academic knowledge, super-abilities, powers, magic, psionics, gadgets, vehicles, weapons, or even a character concept that summarizes many skills and advantages, such as “Ninja Training,” “Martial Arts” or “Shamanic Magic” (examples taken from the Quickstart Preview PDF). All such aspects of a character are named Traits and follow the same rules.

In the internal rules jargon of the game, a Trait is typically defined by a single noun or adjective (“Tough,” “Vicious,” “Athletic,” “Super-Strength,” “Bouncing,” “Gun-Fu,” etc.), or an adjective-noun combination (“Vicious Warrior,” “Magical Wards,” “Revealing Costume”), a compound noun (“Coup Staff,” “Body Armor”), a verb-noun combination (“Drink Blood”), a detailed phrase (“Able to Find Out Anybody’s Weakness“), or even an entire sentence (“Everyone Else Is Moving In Slow Motion”). All of this is only done for flavor and changes nothing in the task resolution.

There is also no obvious mechanical difference between Traits used for attacking and those used for defending. In the Quickstart Preview, for example, one of the characters listed can freely use “Mammoth Size” both as an offensive and defensive Trait. The same goes for Traits like “Deceptively Competent in Combat,” “Ninja Training,” “Athletic,” “Shamanic Magic,” or even “Vicious.”

There is also nothing wrong with a character, both a player-character or non-player character, possessing two or more Traits with very similar names or concepts, or even two of the same: The Quickstart Preview mentions a gunfighter hero with a first “.45 Caliber Hand Cannon” and a second “.45 Caliber Hand Cannon” as two of their Traits, not “Two .45 Guns” or “Double Gun Fighting,” for example. Another character in the PDF has both “Ninja Training” and “Athletic,” while yet another has both “Bounce Attack” and “Bouncing,” each listed as a separate Trait. The advantages of that become apparent once the player knows the mechanics for “Linking” and “Usages,” both defining concepts in playing CC&VF.

Usage of a Trait
One of the more unique features of CC&VF is that it emphasizes the use of any and all game stats as limited resources. The core resolution mechanic is built on the idea that a comicbook character uses a specific ability, arising from one of their Traits, once per scene of a story, with the Trait becoming temporarily useless or ineffective after that use. This “ineffectiveness” mostly takes the following form: If a Trait was already used once in the scene, using it again for any purpose whatsoever requires the player rolling 2d12 and taking the lower (worse) result of the two. This becomes a worst-of-three roll if another Usage is taken, then worst-of-four, worst-of-five, and so forth. Consequently, if a character does not manage to solve or complete a task after having used one of their Traits, they are strongly advised to use another Trait, not the first Trait repeatedly, while it is still the same scene. Traits do “refresh” or “re-fill” completely once the characters are in a new scene.

Using up the effectiveness of Traits that way can be interpreted as firing one's ammunition, using up energy, fuel, magical power, electricity, mental endurance or confidence, the character's calm, faith, concentration, “chi” or whatever. The only thing in the game that “saves” a Trait from becoming less effective after one usage is the Trait possessing a bonus feature that explicitly allows for using that Trait several times in the same scene (extrapolating from CAH, this is probably something bought with points in char-gen, but no rules for building your own Traits are given in the Quickstart Preview). Three usages per scene appear to be the absolute ceiling before a player must switch to another Trait. In the game stats for the sample characters so far, some of the Traits can be used with the same default “power” of 1d12 twice or three times in the same scene, while others move either up or down in terms of power: It is possible to have a Trait that will start out using a best-of-three roll with 3d12, then using only the better of 2d12 on the second usage, and a single d12 on the third. The reverse is also possible: a single d12 for the first usage, the better of two d12 results for the second one, and best of three for the third, representing a character that gets increasingly powerful or skillful over a short period of time.

Setback Tokens
Upon failing to beat an opponent's total, characters in CC&VF take so-called Setback Tokens. They are an abstract form of damage or harm, or simply putting the character at a disadvantage. They do not in any way alter or affect game stats, though (no spiraling downward, not penalties to stat values). A player-character superhero is declared out of commission and unable to act further after receiving their fourth consecutive Setback Token, while some villains or monsters can be defeated after only two such tokens. The game uses no further stat for the purpose of expressing damage, injury, stunning, or exhaustion, another feature it took directly from CAH: Season 2. Setback Tokens are immediately removed from the characters at the conclusion of a scene, for both the winning and the losing side.

Linking
Another decisive novelty is the CC&VF form of Traits with Links. As a game term, a “Link” differs very much from the Restriction named “Linked” in CAH: Season 2. In the latter game, the term “Linked” meant that a Trait that was marked by it could only be utilized in conjunction with another Trait (like a spell that would only be activated if the character used a magic wand), whereas in CC&VF, “Link” is an entirely positive modifier that enables the player to have their character use one Trait with another Trait boosting it, the “Linked” Trait giving it a fixed bonus number (a +3 for most superhuman-level Traits). CAH: Season 2 has a similar modifier called “Enhancer,” but it states that a Trait can only ever profit from one Enhancer, never several Traits with the Enhancer bonus at the same time. This is precisely what Links do in CC&VF. If a character has more than one Trait with the “Link” modifier, any and all of the “Links” can be added together (the bonuses, never the base values). This form of stacking Traits on top of one another makes for a way to get an extremely high modifier to your d12 roll, increasing your chances to meet or beat a target number. However, since the “Usages” rule is always in effect, every time a Trait is linked, it counts as being used once, with the base Trait being boosted also counting as used. So, if a character has stacked six Traits, one primary Trait with five Links added, all six Traits would be marked as used once. This can quickly deplete the character's available Usages. This rule ensures that players have to be careful with their resources, knowing that failing with a heavily linked roll will make them susceptible to further attacks. It also clearly encourages burning up the “big” Traits that come with repeated Usages, and also encourages the Editor stacking Traits of the bad guys for formidable attacks and special actions.

How and when Traits are linked is definitely open to interpretation, the Quickstart Preview only says that “Linked Traits should make sense in how they are Linked together. The Editor has the final say on whether the Links are applicable” (CC&VF Quickstart, pg. 4).

Some examples for linking, taken from monsters and characters in the Quickstart Preview, are given here, with the primary Trait (the one being linked to) in block capitals, the Links listed after the plus sign:

SUPER-STRENGTH + Flight + Martial Arts

DRINK BLOOD + Vicious

TOUGH + Vicious Warrior

DECEPTIVELY COMPETENT + Very Smart

LATERAL THINKER + Ninja Training

SUPER-SPEED + Bouncing

Apart from giving the game an element of more detailed resource management, Linking effectively makes CC&VF one of the very few superhero games that make it very easy for characters to use several powers, skills, and tricks simultaneously (but every time they do so, they do it at a price or take a risk). Linking one's Traits is also the game's method to encourage crazy and flavorful “power stunts” or “super feats” without having a previous definition for those.

Complications
CC&VF uses genre-appropriate character flaws and weaknesses, essentially the same as Cartoon Action Hour's “Subplots,” under the name of “Complications.” The sample heroes in the quickstart PDF all come with one Complication each. Complications can be used to trigger inconveniences that in turn give a hero an extra point of Editorial Control to use later.

Art by Bill Williams
The Quickstart Preview contains three pieces of comic artwork by artist Bill Williams. They were used courtesy of the artist for promotional purposes. The art is actually unrelated to the game as such, and the pieces chosen are pages from Williams' free online comic Sidechicks, published through the website GraphicSmash.com.

Name Similarities
Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul is not to be confused with, nor affiliated with any of the following similarly named products and publications:

• Capes, a comicbook mini-series in three issues, written by Robert Kirkman.

• Capes, a narrative independent roleplaying game published in 2005 by Muse of Fire Games.

• Capes & Cowls: Adventures in Wyrd City, a board game published in 2006 by Wyrd House.

• Villains and Vigilantes, a roleplaying game originally published in 1979 by Fantasy Games Unlimited.